


Her Sacrifice

by flipflop_diva



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Lily Evans Potter Lives, Mother-Son Relationship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27667081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: Lily sacrifices herself for her son. But this time, she doesn't die.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34
Collections: Time Oops Exchange 2020





	Her Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hadrian_Pendragons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadrian_Pendragons/gifts).



It was too late. She was more sure of it than she had ever been sure of anything before. 

It was like time slowed down now that she knew this was it. She looked into the crib, at the most perfect child she had ever seen. She took in his eyes staring up at her, so much like her own. She took in his dark hair, his little nose, the way his tiny hands were waving around. She tried to imagine who he would become, how he would look.

What she wouldn’t give for more time with him. What she wouldn’t do to not have this be her fate. To have just one more day, one more hour, one more minute …

But there was nothing to do.

She turned, and there he was. In front of her. As ugly and as cruel as ever. But this time she wasn’t scared.

She raised her head, her chin jutting into the air, and let the words flow out, trying to reach some part of him that might still be human. 

“Not Harry!” she said to him. “Not Harry, please not Harry!”

“Stand aside, you silly girl … stand aside now.”

She would never. She stared him in the eyes. “Not Harry. Please no — Take me, kill me instead … ”

He raised his wand. She knew it was coming. A flash of green, winding slowly through the air. She saw her child in her mind’s eye. The child she loved with all her heart.

It was too late. 

She knew no more.

\--

She opened her eyes. She was lying on her back on the ground. Something wet was seeping into her clothes, sending a chill through her whole body.

She blinked, letting the world come into focus. It was growing dark. She could just make out the shadowy shapes of stars above her.

She turned her head to the side, to see where she was.

Grass. She was lying on grass. Wet grass.

She pulled herself to her feet, shivering, trying to understand. The last thing she remembered …

She clasped a hand to her mouth. 

The last thing she remembered was Voldemort. Voldemort killing her. And going after Harry. But how did she get here?

She felt her heart start to thud in her chest, terror beginning to set in. 

She turned around. And froze.

Concrete steps were in front of her. Leading to a front door. A very, very familiar front door.

But how was that possible?

She tilted her head back to look up. 

It didn’t make sense, but it was true.

Hogwarts.

But how?

She heard noises in the distance and turned again. Coming into view she could see carriages, the exact same ones she had once ridden in when she was a student.

She acted on instinct. She raced forward across the lawn, closing the distance between herself and the building she knew so well and threw herself behind the bushes that dotted the front of the castle.

She watched with her heart in her throat as the carriages made their way up the drive and then stopped before the castle. She watched as children departed the carriages. She tried to see if she recognized them, but none were familiar. Even their hairstyles seemed unfamiliar. 

She heard the doors to the castle open, and she twisted her body so she could see what was happening. A woman she recognized stood on the stoop. But she looked so much older than she remembered.

Lily shook her head, trying to get her bearings. What was happening?

She looked back to the children. And her heart skipped a beat.

A boy, no older than sixteen, stood just feet from where she was crouched. She had never seen him before, but she would have recognized him anywhere. The out of control hair. The glasses. The eyes.

Her eyes.

Her eyes in a James look-alike.

There could only be one explanation.

Harry.

Her Harry. Her son. Her child.

He was alive. Older, but alive.

And somehow she was alive, too. 

Somehow she was in the future. The realization hit her instantly. The spell Voldemort had cast. It hadn’t killed her; it had propelled her forward in time.

She didn’t know how, she didn’t know why, but for one perfect moment, she didn’t care. 

She let out a breath and let a smile cross her face.

Harry was alive. All was well.


End file.
